MUSKEGON, MI – The changes in the Lakes 8 Conference might not be over.

League members Fruitport and Spring Lake have applied for entry into the OK Conference and will find out their fate next spring. Any additions to the OK wouldn’t become effective until the 2016-17 school year.

Athletic directors at both schools, Ken Erny at Fruitport and Cavin Mohrhardt at Spring Lake, sited instability in the Lakes 8 as the reason for seeking entry into the OK Conference.

In the past two years, the Lakes 8 lost Newaygo, Grant and Tri County to the Central States Activities Association. The Lakes 8 added Muskegon Catholic Central this year, giving the league six teams, including Orchard View, Fremont and Ludington.

“How long is this group capable of staying together before others leave?” Erny said. “Basically every school in the Lakes 8 is looking for other options, in case one of the others leave. … We have the option of staying where we are, being accepted, being rejected or being an independent. The latter is pretty bad.”

OK Commisionner Jim Haskins said Fruitport and Spring Lake were the only schools to apply for admission into the OK by the August deadline.

Erny said it’s a domino effect and nobody wants to be left out down the road.

“We still have ties with the Lakes 8 schools and it’s still good,” Erny said. “But I don’t know of any schools to add that would make sense to everyone. If things don’t work out, we’d better have another alternative. So we are pursuing the OK Conference application with all our efforts.”

Spring Lake is doing the same.

The Lakers were once in the OK Blue in the early 2000s, switched to the Western Waterways Activities Association and then became a founding member of the Lakes 8 in 2005.

Mohrhardt said the Lakes 8 has plans to stay together at least through the 2015-16 school year.

“We talked to everybody in our league and the understanding was everybody was going to give it two years,” Mohrhardt said. “You can’t blame any school that decides to go. We want to see that no one gets left out in the cold.”

Haskins said the by-laws of the OK require the opportunity for schools to apply for league membership every two years. Division realignment must be reviewed every four years, which also comes due for the 2016-17 school year.

He said the next steps for Fruitport and Spring Lake include a site visit in October to each school by a group of 10, six principals and four athletic directors. A different group will visit each school. The groups will rate each school and findings will move on to a discussion stage for administrators. In February, a vote will be taken and acceptance into the league requires a ¾ majority. Each member school gets one vote and 36 are needed for approval.

The largest Muskegon-area schools are members of the OK, including Muskegon, Mona Shores and Reeths-Puffer in the Black division and Grand Haven in the OK Red. Kent City exited the OK Silver division to join the CSAA this fall.

Mohrhardt said he believes past expansion and realignment of the OK conference would make Spring Lake a better fit this time around.

Erny also feels Fruitport is a good candidate for consideration.

“We’ve been saying we’ll know more in six months, but we’re going full guns in that direction,” Erny said. “In a lot of ways, it would up the ante in our unique needs to compete, bring some stability and bring some good rivalries. To me, our best rivalry is with Spring Lake. I’d really hate not to be in the same conference with Spring Lake, but again, there are no guarantees.”

Mark Opfermann covers sports for MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at mopferma@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.